


Apathy

by Shaymed



Series: War of Thorns shorts [2]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 11:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21493633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaymed/pseuds/Shaymed
Summary: Nightborne warlock Gemesthie struggles with the events in Darkshore while Thal'kiel tempts her into darker thoughts, but blood elf Docra helps her see things another way.
Series: War of Thorns shorts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1549186
Kudos: 1





	Apathy

The warlock looked out at the destruction caused by the Horde. The bodies of night elves, so similar in features to her own kin, strewn about the length of the beach. Discarded and ignored like rubbish washed upon the shore by the undulating waves. She bade her felguard stay behind and approached one still coughing on what little life he had left.

_<What a pathetic worm. We should end his suffering…or just watch as he suffers his final moments in agony,>_ the floating skull said beside her.

“He is my kin,” Gemesthie said.

_<His people rejected you.>_ Thal’kiel moved in a circle over the dying kaldorei. <_They deserve this fate.>_

“They rejected us because they do not understand. They did not empathize with the plight of my people.”

“Ras, agol…ne goth,” the dying elf sputtered, coughing on his own blood.

_<Do you think he wants you to kill him, or is he threatening you?>_

Gemesthie stood, unsheathing her dagger. “Do I let a creature suffer when it is not the one who wronged the shal’dorei?”

“Does it matter?” a dull voice droned behind her.

Gemesthie spun and sighed to see a sin’dorei, clothed in black, her face emotionless and painted with dark purple makeup under her black hair. “You took me by surprise, friend.”

“I’m not your friend. And he asked you to kill him.” She raised her hand; the night elf gasped, then the light dimmed from his eyes.

“You show mercy to your enemy?”

“Mercy is irrelevant. He asked to die.”

Gemesthie stepped away from the corpse. Thal’kiel circled the newcomer.

“I am Gemesthie. What is your name?” she asked.

“I’m Docra.” Without a word, she turned away and walked up the beach.

Balls of fire hurtled suddenly toward the tree across the distance. Both women stopped to watch, Gemesthie in shock and Docra still expressionless. When it stopped and the tree stood as a pillar of orange flame and choking smoke, the nightborne looked to the blood elf.

“I thought the plan was to capture the city.”

Docra shrugged. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“There are people in there! They could die!”

“Everyone dies. Some sooner than others.”

Gemesthie blinked down at the woman. “What if that was your home?”

Docra turned, blinking up at the woman, then looking to the tree. “My home did burn. My kin died. And I, same as now, said everyone dies. We all die. We all become ash. This is not a tragedy. A thousand years from now all of these people will be dead. You and I will be dust. So today doesn’t actually matter.” She lightly set her index finger on the skull staring at her, then turned away. “I’ll leave you to mourn.”

_<Hmm…I think I like her,>_ Thal’kiel said, slowly drifting after the priestess.

Gemesthie sighed. “You’re right, Docra. And…I’m just worried that my people chose the wrong side.”

“Your people didn’t choose,” the blood elf said.

“Is this the Horde we’ve joined? Murderous and uncaring of life, no matter whose?”

Docra’s shoulder lazily raised up, then dropped down. “Perhaps it is. Perhaps there is more to the story than we know.”

“May I…call you friend?”

Docra paused, thinking on her reply. “No. Soon you will call me enemy.”

“You’re…switching sides? How is that possible?” Gemesthie took the sin’dorei by the elbow.

“My allegiance has never been with the Horde or the Alliance. I serve the Void. I always have. Now I see others like me, kin I should have been a part of. I’m securing my entry into their ranks. They allied themselves with a side, as your people did. I do not recognize that allegiance.” She turned to continue her slow traversal of the crimson sands. She reached a hand out to catch falling ash in her palm, then smeared it around with her pale fingers.

“Then I will call you friend, anyway. I may be of the Horde, but I do not recognize the actions taken this day.” Gemesthie strode to catch up, bidding her felguard follow behind.

Docra blinked up at the woman; her green eyes traced the long earring along the bottom of her blue ear. “You may call me friend, but I call no one friend.”

“That’s okay.”

Thal’kiel hovered between the two and chuckled, his gravelly voice vibrating through the air. <_Can we keep her skull when you eventually kill her?>_


End file.
